The
Venerable Ananda, the Buddha's personal attendant, spent twenty- five
years with the Buddha serving him. The Buddha asked him several times to
strive hard and attain enlightenment. He had known all the Dhamma and
theories of meditation. However, as he enjoyed serving the Buddha and
other fellow bhikkhus, he neglected his own attainment of enlightenment
until finally a great pressure came from the 499 Arahants assembled to
hold the first Buddhist council. They insisted that he should attain
enlightenment before the designated date for the council planned for the
third month after the Buddha's passing away.

Buddha had already said: "Monks,
meditate. Don't be heedless. Don't let your mind be filled with
defilements. Don't weep and wail saying: This life is full of trouble,
full of misery, full of pain, full of agony." The mind not developed
through the practice of mindfulness meditation creates tension, anxiety
and worry. Don't keep crying and repeating the same mistakes. You cannot
run away from reality. Life is not rosy. It has ups-and-downs and bumps
all over. These are facts we face every day.

The practice of mindfulness meditation is
similar to a the shock absorbers in a car. If the shock absorbers are not
good, you will see how difficult it will be when you drive. This vehicle
of ours - the body and mind, this combination - is full of such difficult
moments. There is no place to run away from them. Even if you go to the
moon (not an impossibility these days), still you will go with your body
and mind filled with all kinds of impediments still existing in the mind.
You cannot leave them here and go over there. They follow persistently and
doggedly wherever you go, and they keep bothering you, day and night. Most
people experiment with three solutions.

They perceive the problem is "over there,
in the world." Therefore, they think that by correcting the world, trying
to solve society's ills, they can solve their problems. They wish to make
the environment "proper, beautiful" and free from problems. Only then can
they live happily. So they get engrossed and, sometimes, even obsessed, in
trying to straighten out society. Of course, the desire to improve
society's ills, itself, is commendable. They see suffering and become
compassionate and then act. They may keep themselves fully occupied trying
to correct the society's ills. They might think that they keep themselves
out of trouble without realizing that they actually are forgetting their
own nagging problems. They continue to have their own pains and suffering
unattended primarily because they do not have time for themselves. These
people are very compassionate, understanding, ready to render their
service to the society selflessly or without any reward from the society.
We read many wonderful accounts of many such noble persons who at the
expense of their own attainment of enlightenment dedicate their lives to
the society. External activities might hinder solving one's own problems.

Although we live in society with people,
each one of us has a little world of our own, views about the world, our
own perception and understanding of the world. Each follows his or her
perceptions, and views of the world. We may sometimes think that all the
problems we experience are generated from the outer world. Therefore, we
turn our energies to the world believing involvement in doing something to
correct society will solve our problems.

The second line of thinking which people
pursue to solve their problems is to think that there is no problem at
all. They believe that everything is imaginary. They think: "I exist by
myself, I am most important, and I am all alone, and nothing else matters
to me." The third way to solve personal problems is to run away from our
problems.

We may receive temporary solace, temporary
comfort thinking either the problem exists over there in the external
world or it does not exist, or diverting our attention to something,
ignoring that there is a problem, or running away from the problem.

The real solution lies in none of these
methods. The real solution, according to the Buddha's teaching, is to
discover a way to purify the instrument, the agent, which makes the world
happy or unhappy, peaceful or miserable, pleasant or painful. That which
creates problems and suffering for everybody. This instrument is our mind.
Purification of this mind is one of the purposes of mindfulness
meditation.

As we all know, all our thoughts, words
and deeds originate in the mind. Mind is the forerunner. All conditions
which we experience are mind-made. They are created in the mind, directed
and led by the mind. Mind puts them into action. "All actions are all
led by the mind: mind is their master, mind is their maker. Act or speak
with a defiled state of mind, then suffering follows like the cart-wheel
that follows the foot of the ox. All actions are all led by the mind; mind
is their master, mind is their maker. Act or speak with a pure state of
mind, then happiness follows like a shadow that remains behind without
departing." (Dhammapada 1-2)

The analogy of the ox pulling the cart is
most appropriate to illustrate our problems. The ox pulling the cart does
not enjoy pulling the cart. He is not happy with this burden; it is not a
pleasure. This poor bull pulling the cart has a terrible time. The whole
burden of the cart is on his shoulders, and he will be in pain. The bull
would have done better if he had not been born a bull. The condition of
the bull is compared to the condition of ignorance, and stupidity - not
seeing the truth as is. An unenlightened life is full of ignorance and
given to defilements of all kinds. Therefore, an unenlightened person
committing thoughts, words, and deeds with impure minds suffers very much
like the bull who always suffers by pulling this heavy cart. On the other
hand, when we speak or do something with a pure mind we feel happy, and
have no regrets, no pain, no suffering following us.

Our purpose in life is to improve
ourselves everyday and become happy. We do many things to gain happiness.
However, most of the things we do to gain happiness may generate
unhappiness, pain, suffering and trouble because our minds are not pure.
It is the pure mind that can generate happiness, not the impure mind.
Therefore, the first purpose of practicing meditation is to purify our
mind; that generates peace and happiness.

The second purpose of meditation is to
overcome sorrow and lamentation. When a meditator begins to see the truth
he or she can bear and conquer sorrow and lamentation caused by
impermanence.

The third purpose is to overcome suffering
and disappointment caused by greed and hatred.

The fourth purpose of meditation is to
tread the wise path, the correct path which leads to liberation from
grief, sorrow, disappointment, pain and lamentation. This is the path of
mindfulness - the only path that liberate us from suffering.

The fifth purpose of meditation is to
liberate ourselves completely and totally from mental pain and defilements
and to free our minds from greed, hatred and delusion.

These five purposes are very noble
purposes. All other purposes of meditation may be overlooked because none
of them is capable of generating these results making us really peaceful
and happy by eliminating our problems. We don't try to ignore or avoid
them but mindfully we face and tackle them as they arise in our minds.

Certain people simply want to meditate
without having any background knowledge of meditation. They think
knowledge of the theory of meditation is an impediment. This attitude can
be compared to the attitude of a traveler who wishes to go to a definite
destination - let us say Washington DC. The traveler has great confidence
in his ability and believes his confidence alone is sufficient to get him
there. This person may have a vehicle - a car. Then, getting into the car,
sitting behind the steering wheel, he starts to drive. However, there has
been no preparation for the journey. There is no knowledge of the roads or
the conditions of the roads or of the weather. He hasn't even consulted a
map. All he has is a car and confidence and some experience in driving.
The car may carry a sufficient quantity of gas, oil, and other items, so,
the traveler gets into the car and starts driving. He may be on the road
for a long time spending a good deal of money on gas, time and energy.
Indeed, driving will lead him somewhere, but not necessarily to his
destination. A wise driver, on the other hand, studies the map in detail,
determines the detours, and may ask others who are more experienced.

If the driver wishes to go to Washington
DC and if there is a place called Washington DC, the driver will find it.
Similarly, we need to have a goal in meditation. We want to reach this
goal and realize our purpose. And we do need some guidelines. We do not
necessarily need a great deal of philosophical and speculative theory. The
guidelines are road signs to follow so that we will know (not guess) if we
are heading in the right direction. Certainly confidence is necessary, but
in itself, is not sufficient. In addition, we need understanding and
knowledge of the theory.

Then what is meditation? How do we reach
this goal of purifying the mind, overcoming grief and lamentation,
overcoming pain and disappointment, treading the path leading to
liberation from pain, suffering and samsara - this world of birth and
death?

There is a way to attain it. When we refer
to "the Way" it may turn many people off. They might think the speaker is
trying to sell something and trying to deprecate everything in the world,
and say "If this is the only way, we are not prepared to buy it." Now,
when you wish to go to Washington DC, there are a number of ways to get
there. Flying is the quickest way these days, of course. In other times,
we would use a car or boat, or only our two feet. Whatever the means of
transportation, we have to cover a specific distance to arrive in
Washington DC. What is essential is that we get there - whether by slow or
fast means. Therefore, "the Way" means "The Way of Mindfulness" that
transverses a certain distance or area to realize our destination.

This way of Mindfulness does not, however,
lie in a geographical area or in space. It is in our own mind. We have to
do certain things. That doing is also "the Way" -- the way to cultivate
our minds to accomplish this journey. Cultivating the mind means
practicing mindfulness. When no mindfulness is present, when we are
unmindful all the time, we are entrapped by "red herrings." We are caught
in all kinds of confusion. We don't understand things as they really are.
To enable us to get to our destination, we need a clear understanding of
where we are. Clear understanding is born from mindfulness. No matter what
else we do or other practices we engage in they have their own purposes
and goals. We learn that they do not purify the mind.

The very word meditation means
cultivation. We know what we mean when we say, "We cultivate a land." We
know that there has to be a land and some means of cultivating it. We have
to do certain things, such as cutting down the trees to clear the land,
remove weeds and other things, and till it over and over and fertilize it.
Then we can plant seeds and nourish it and grow certain crops. Similarly
in the practice of meditation, we need to mentally cultivate the mind. We
do not need to sit in one place just waiting for something to happen. We
may wait indefinitely, or for a very long time, without anything
happening. We might say that we have spent so much time in meditation.
Sitting in one place doing nothing is not meditation. And also simply
watching our breath all the time is inadequate and insufficient. Of
course, mindfulness of breath is an important part of meditation. Simply
watching the breath without any mindfulness may be called the practice of
tranquillity meditation, however, it is not Right Concentration without
mindfulness. We begin, however, with watching our breath. This meditation
which is totally distinct to Buddhism is called Vipassana meditation or
Insight meditation. There are guidelines for the practice of Insight or
Vipassana meditation. These guidelines are given in the Sutta called the
Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

These Four Foundations of Mindfulness are:
Mindfulness of the Body, Mindfulness of Feeling, Mindfulness of the mind
and Mindfulness of Mental Objects. We will explain them in turn.

Let me take the first part - Mindfulness
of the Body. Mindfulness of the body is divided into six sections. The
first of them is Mindfulness of breathing. Now, why is the breath included
in the mindfulness of the body? The breath is a part of our body. This
body, as we know it, is made up of four basic elements: the element of
extension (solid parts), the element of cohesion (the liquid part), the
element of heat (radiation) and the element of air (oscillation or
movement). Therefore, when we try to practice mindfulness of the body we
begin with the mindfulness of the breath which is the element of air.

In this meditation, we do not dwell upon
some imaginative fairy land. We are not trying to induce self hypnosis. We
are not trying to discover the hidden, mystical elements of the universe.
We are not trying to become absorbed in the whole universe. We are not
trying to become "One" with the whole universe. All these are interesting
words. We are trying to use this personality of ours: our own body and
mind. We watch mindfully this body and mind and their activities, we
investigate them because they are what we carry with us wherever we go.
This body and mind is our laboratory. All we have to work with is there --
the raw material, chemical substance, gases, heat, air, water, extension
-- all are there. It is in this body, in this personality that we find all
this. My laboratory is my body and mind. I always try to watch them within
me. I cannot work in your laboratory. You have to work in your own
laboratory. Most of us forget our own laboratories and try to get into
somebody else's laboratory. We try to see what so-and-so is eating, what
so-and-so is doing, whom so-and-so is associating with, where so-and-so is
going, what so-and-so is reading, how much money so-and-so has, etc. We
always forget our own laboratories. We may never know what is in this
laboratory within ourselves. We, in this practice of Insight meditation,
become introspective, mindful and careful to watch what is happening here
in this mind and body in the present moment. That is what Vipassana
meditation is all about; methodical investigation in the laboratory within
ourselves.